[ The nostalgic smile starts to fade, gradually. ]
I still don't believe it was all an act. On some level, that truly was who he wanted to be... or at the very least, who he felt he was supposed to be. Which I can very much understand. People like us, those with extraordinary power... we have to hold ourselves to a higher moral standard, if only because there's no one else who can. And no one felt that pressure more than Tony. He was far and away the most powerful being on Earth, after all. If he thought the world demanded perfection of him, well... [ a light shrug ] it's only because it did.
[ He shakes his head. ] But he wasn't perfect. Couldn't be. He wasn't some... "god among mortals." His body may have been invulnerable, but his heart was still essentially human, with human desires and human needs and ... human vices. Human flaws. Human fears.
[ To include that most ancient of human fears: rejection. Being cast out, unwanted, unloved. That fear was Tony's close companion his entire life, one he'd seen realized over and over and over and over again, as family after family rejected him the moment they knew what he was. Withdrawing their love, sending him away, going into hiding, changing their names... even taking their own lives.
Yet he never stopped craving that sense of connection. He started over, invented a new self, one that nobody could possibly find fault with. A good person, upright, selfless, only here to help, and all he wanted in return was a little unconditional love... ]
... And he made mistakes. [ Qubit sighs. ] Which brings us back round to Jackson, I suppose.
[ A refresher: ] If you recall, the Jackson Plague was caused by an ultrasonic lifeform. Infected only children, reanimated their skeletons, transmitted on the screams of the living, et cetera. But I don't think I mentioned where it came from.
no subject
[ The nostalgic smile starts to fade, gradually. ]
I still don't believe it was all an act. On some level, that truly was who he wanted to be... or at the very least, who he felt he was supposed to be. Which I can very much understand. People like us, those with extraordinary power... we have to hold ourselves to a higher moral standard, if only because there's no one else who can. And no one felt that pressure more than Tony. He was far and away the most powerful being on Earth, after all. If he thought the world demanded perfection of him, well... [ a light shrug ] it's only because it did.
[ He shakes his head. ] But he wasn't perfect. Couldn't be. He wasn't some... "god among mortals." His body may have been invulnerable, but his heart was still essentially human, with human desires and human needs and ... human vices. Human flaws. Human fears.
[ To include that most ancient of human fears: rejection. Being cast out, unwanted, unloved. That fear was Tony's close companion his entire life, one he'd seen realized over and over and over and over again, as family after family rejected him the moment they knew what he was. Withdrawing their love, sending him away, going into hiding, changing their names... even taking their own lives.
Yet he never stopped craving that sense of connection. He started over, invented a new self, one that nobody could possibly find fault with. A good person, upright, selfless, only here to help, and all he wanted in return was a little unconditional love... ]
... And he made mistakes. [ Qubit sighs. ] Which brings us back round to Jackson, I suppose.
[ A refresher: ] If you recall, the Jackson Plague was caused by an ultrasonic lifeform. Infected only children, reanimated their skeletons, transmitted on the screams of the living, et cetera. But I don't think I mentioned where it came from.